Gibraltar
Pension Investments
There
is a strong insurance community in Gibraltar,
by no means all devoted to captives, with both
principal companies and brokerages able to offer
suitable products for pension investment.
Individuals
in a number of situations can gain advantage
from offshore pension investment, for instance:
- Expatriate
executives, professionals or entertainers;
-
Residents in high-tax countries intending
to become non-resident on or before retirement
;
- Residents
in low-tax countries.
Expatriate executives, professionals, entertainers
and similar types of global wanderer have a
considerable problem with pension provision,
since it is often the case that while non-resident
they cannot continue with tax-privileged pension
investment at 'home', ie in their original domicile,
to which they probably intend to return in the
end. It may well be that offshore investment
is the only practicable route, even though the
income they eventually receive in retirement
is going to be taxed - and they may decide to
retire offshore, in which case they will have
preserved flexibility by not committing to any
particular high-tax jurisdiction.
People
who already live offshore and have no intention
of moving onshore, are not really concerned
with the distinction between 'pensions' investment
and 'non-pensions' investment, since there are
probably no taxes to consider either way. They
need to have regard to security of course, and
will no doubt be planning to maximise income
in retirement, so that offshore pensions products
are still relevant to them.
Investments
intended to provide pensions income need to
take into account the choice of jurisdiction
for eventual retirement. Gibraltar, like many
offshore jurisdictions, provides tax exemption
for non-residents, but not for residents, or
at any rate not for the local income of residents,
so that it may be undesirable to locate a retirement
investment in Gibraltar if that's where you
plan to live.
For
a fuller treatment of offshore pensions investment,
see www.investorsoffshore.com.
